News Archive

AMHERST, Mass. - University of Massachusetts associate professor of engineering David McLaughlin has been named the Armstrong Professional Development Professor. The appointment was made by University President William Bulger, following approval by the University’s Board of Trustees at its meeting today at UMass Dartmouth. He was recommended for the honor by Chancellor Marcellette Williams and Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Charlena Seymour.

AMHERST, Mass. - Kathleen F. Arcaro, an environmental toxicologist, has joined the faculty of the department of veterinary and animal sciences and the environmental sciences program at the University of Massachusetts, as assistant professor. The department and the program are part of the College of Food and Natural Resources.

AMHERST, Mass. - Two faculty researchers in the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering Department at the University of Massachusetts have received prestigious awards in the field. William MacKnight will receive the Herman F. Mark Award, presented by the American Chemical Society (ACS). Richard Farris has been named to receive the Council for Chemical Research''s (CCR) Malcolm E. Pruitt Award for 2001.

AMHERST, Mass. - A number of educational, cultural, and social events are planned at the University of Massachusetts in February in celebration of Black History Month. Additional information may be obtained at the numbers listed beside each event below.

AMHERST, Mass. - Donald C. Freeman, former professor and founder of the University of Massachusetts linguistics department, will receive a Chancellor’s Medal during ceremonies to inaugurate an annual lecture named for him and his wife, Margaret, for their contributions to the department. The speaker will be renowned psychologist Steven Pinker of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Pinker is a popular and controversial writer on language acquisition and evolutionary psychology, whose work has been the topic of three best-selling books.

AMHERST, Mass. - Environmental microbiologist Guy R. Lanza, director of the inter-disciplinary environmental sciences program at the University of Massachusetts, has been appointed to the Council of Deans and Directors of the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE).

AMHERST, Mass. - Dhandapani Venkataraman, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Massachusetts, has received $385,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to continue his research in the area of electronic materials. The grant comes through the NSF’s prestigious CAREER program, which is aimed at recognizing promise by a young faculty member. Paul Lahti, head of the chemistry department, made the announcement.

AMHERST, Mass. - Deep below the surface of the Beverhead Mountains of Idaho, a research team led by Derek Lovley, head of the microbiology department at the University of Massachusetts, and Francis H. Chappelle of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), has found an unusual community of microoganisms that may hold the key to understanding how life could survive on Mars. Their findings are spelled out in the Jan. 17 issue of the journal Nature (vol. 415).